With 2022 underway and the Year of the Water Tiger starting, I wanted to take a moment to offer a short reflection on where we are as a community and as an organization.
More than 50 years ago, in the late 1960s when Chinese for Affirmative Action began, our country was in a period of social change.
Social change for the civil rights and fair treatment of communities of color and women. Social change to achieve greater visibility and power for workers, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and other disenfranchised communities. And social change against racialized wars of imperialism abroad.
Today, our work at CAA grows out of and carries forth the legacy of that change. And it’s important to remember that those efforts were built on the shoulders of the efforts that preceded them.
Social change is a continuum. And in this country that continuum continues to be defined by one central struggle:
Can America live up to its declared democratic ideals and egalitarian principles? Or must it remain entrenched in the patriarchal and white supremacist roots of its founding?
Our mission at CAA is located within the bounds of this struggle. And our commitment to actualize an expansive, inclusive, and multiracial democracy that works for everyone — that is the aspiration of America itself and the reason why solidarity across all communities is so important to us.
The stakes are high.
From the economic and social inequities made worse by the coronavirus pandemic to the recent surge in hate, violence, and xenophobia, we recognize the pain and hardship that these times have brought to our communities.
And as voting rights continue to erode, and right-wing disinformation continues to proliferate, we also recognize how much hangs in the balance.
In all our program areas — immigrant rights, community safety and justice, language diversity, education equity, and economic justice — CAA will continue to meet the moment with plans to expand our services and partnerships, increase our impact, and advance social change.
With a new year in front of us, and with the generous support of friends and allies like yourself, we commit to bending the long arc of history towards justice by bending it together.
Thank you for being a beloved part of the CAA community.
With gratitude,
Vincent Pan, Co-Executive Director of CAA
